The Resurrection Cycle: Dioltas
by LadyDeb1970
Summary: A brutal attack against Talia threatens to destroy everything the Malloy family has accomplished with the ace. How far will Zechs go to avenge Talia. . .and how far will he have to go to prevent Shawn from falling to the same madness?


Disclaimer: Zechs doesn't belong to me. Nor does the concept of Gundam Wing, or its remaining characters. Everyone else does.  
  
Yes, I'm back. . .and I am working on Dioltas, along with three Mummy stories, three Mag7 stories, two Poltergeist: The Legacy stories, and a Pirates of the Caribbean story. That's at least five fandoms, plus my novels. There are times when I think writer's block has its place. . .however, those moments rarely last long.  
  
In 'Dioltas,' we have things finally coming to a head for the bizarre triangle of Talia, Shawn, and Zechs (and yes, I'd say it is rather bizarre). A few revelations for poor Zechs, who shares the spotlight with Shawn in this. The girls are in this, but Talia is too busy recovering and Ciara tries to take care of her mother while Shawn and Zechs try to find the thugs who tried to kill Talia.  
  
That said. . .on with the fic.  
  
The Resurrection Cycle  
  
Dioltas  
  
Prologue  
  
They sat together alone in the waiting room. Two men and one girl. Waiting. Watching. Praying. Fearing. The girl was almost asleep, her head resting against her father's shoulder. She could sleep. While she was afraid, she was also young. Her birth mother died when she was still very small. In her world, there was no reason to fear death, because death would not come until those she loved were very old. And that was a long time away.  
  
Her father, however, was another story. He was afraid. And almost numb with guilt. He was partially responsible for what happened. . .and he was terrified an innocent would pay with her life. He closed his eyes, trying for a 'reset,' but every time he closed his eyes, he would see her again. Not the woman who shared his life over the last ten years, but the woman who was carried into the emergency room a few hours earlier. And she seemed vastly different from the woman who held his family together with her strength and her laughter and her quiet courage. But yet, they were the same person.  
  
The last member of the trio rose to his feet, pacing back and forth. Nervous energy infused his body, making it impossible for him to simply sit. Waiting was hell. It always was. And like the older man, it was nearly impossible for him to get that image out of his head. So still. So silent. So pale. So battered. But in a way, it was worse for him. It was he who carried her into the emergency room, her small, battered body draped over his arms.  
  
It was he who heard her soft whimpers of pain and terror when she didn't realize it was him. It was he who held her and begged her to hold on, long enough for him to get her to help. It was he who stood behind the doctors as they ripped open her clothes to reveal the horrific bruising. He saw what those monsters did to her. He saw. . .and an old, familiar rage began building in his soul. He dampened it. There was no other choice. Not right now.  
  
But soon. . .very soon. . .he would allow his control to slip. He would find those monsters and he would make them pay for what they did. His pacing was brought to an abrupt stop when the doors swung open and a woman exited. She looked tired. . .terribly, terribly tired. And a quick glance at the clock told him why. They were in there for five hours. The woman asked in a hoarse voice, "Are you here for Natalia Gaston Malloy?"  
  
Zechs Merquise turned to look at Shawn Malloy, who gently eased his daughter from his lap. Ciara never woke and Shawn very gently lay her down in the chair. Then he joined Zechs in front of the doctor, who said quietly, "She made it through the surgery, but we need to keep an eye on her for the next several days. I'm afraid she lost a lot of blood, internally, before we were able to stop it. There's nothing you could have done to stop that."  
  
This was said to Zechs, who looked away as soon as he heard about the blood Talia lost. The doctor continued, "I think you may have saved her life, and prevented her from going into shock, when you put your coat around her. As I said, there's nothing you could have done to prevent the blood loss. Before I continue, I must ask. . .do either of you know of a trauma in her past. . .a physical trauma? Given the bleeding, I was sure that her spleen was ruptured, but it was intact, and I noticed there was some scar tissue."  
  
"She was raped when she was sixteen years old," Shawn answered hoarsely, "she may have been beaten at th' same time. Talia never talks about that time of her life. I found out about it by accident m'self." Zechs looked at him quickly. Talia was raped? When she was sixteen? Shawn ignored the question in the younger man's eyes, and continued, "Talia was in th' Sank Kingdom when it fell. That's when and where it happened. She became pregnant as a result of th' rape."  
  
The doctor nodded, replying, "I noticed that. Her body bore some signs of a past pregnancy." Zechs barely heard her, though. His head was suddenly buzzing, as memories flashed through his mind. A sixteen year old girl cradled in Pagan's arms. A large man, whom Papa knew, shouting that his daughter should have died instead of his son. And a pretty blonde lady with Pagan, her hand in the girl's dark hair.  
  
But how did he know she was sixteen? He couldn't tell. . .unless he was told about it beforehand? Yes. Yes, he knew that sixteen year old girl. In his mind's eye, through the eyes of that small boy, Zechs could see that sixteen year old girl. He knew her. She was there in the days and weeks before the Sank Kingdom was attacked. He could see her smile, hear her laughter as she played with Relena.  
  
Her name. What was her name? Another memory flashed through his mind, of a little red-haired boy. The girl's younger brother. And louder. He was as vocal and verbose as she was quiet. He would run through the palace, screaming his sister's name. 'Natasha, Natasha, Natasha!' Natasha. The girl's name was Natasha. . .Lady Natasha Galinova. Daughter of Alexei and Nathalie Galinova. Milliardo Peacecraft's first crush. The girl who ignored convention when she danced with the six year old prince and put him on her hip, so he didn't have to look up at her.  
  
Natasha and Talia's faces became superimposed, and Zechs almost fainted from the shock. They were the same person. Natasha. . .the girl whom he adored as a child. . . and Talia, the woman who saved his life and his soul. . .they were one and the same. The numbness caused by the buzzing receded and made way for rage. Natasha. She was raped that day. He remembered now. She was raped because she was trying to protect his mother.  
  
She was raped trying to protect his mother. Her brother lost his life protecting Zechs himself. And now Lady Natasha Galinova. . .Natalia Gaston Malloy. . .was fighting for her very life, because the same kinds of thugs who murdered his parents and destroyed the Sank Kingdom all those years ago. . .found out that she was Shawn Malloy's wife. Found out where they lived. And then they beat her almost to death, only yards from the house.  
  
The rage began when Zechs found her, unconscious and battered, only minutes after the thugs tired of their fun. It grew as he listened to the doctors catalogue her injuries. The broken ribs. The likely internal bleeding. One doctor's comment that the men who beat that small, defenseless woman focused their blows on her torso. There was only a little bruising on her face, and a lump on the back of her head.  
  
Zechs hoped that meant she was unconscious for most of the beating. He hoped she didn't have to suffer through that as well. The helplessness. The fear. But at the same time, it angered him further. She never had the chance to defend herself. To run. She went outside to put out the garbage, for God's sake! She was only yards from the house, they never even gave her a chance to cry out, to alert Zechs and Shawn that she was in trouble.  
  
In the last few months, ever since the destruction of Osiris, Shawn was bent on finding the pirates responsible. Zechs was too long a soldier to think the two were unrelated. Shawn spoke often of an Irish Gaelic word. 'Dioltas.' It meant revenge. Zechs would find out if the thugs who almost killed Talia were connected to those pirates. And even if they weren't. . .even if they weren't, Zechs would teach them the true meaning of the word 'dioltas.' 


End file.
